Happy New Year everyone! What an incredible, crazy, and amazing year 2018 was for me and my family. It ended with wonderful time with family and friends. I am so grateful for the year, and I’m ready to take on this new one.

Last year, I used the word Anticipation as my focus for the year. It was the perfect word and worked so well considering we were anticipating the arrival of our son and all of the firsts that come after that. I almost couldn’t decide on a new word for this year because it wouldn’t top last year’s word.

As I continued to think back over the last few years, I realized that a lot of it was spent simply surviving. We were in survival mode after our first miscarriage, continued to be in survival mode as we tried to conceive again, and stayed in survival mode after the stillbirths of our first and second daughters. Even in this last pregnancy, it was all I could do to survive one day at a time.

So, I want to change my mindset this year. While I want to continue to live in the present and take one day at a time, I want to do more than just survive. I want to thrive.

To thrive means to flourish. It’s not staying in my comfort zone. It’s challenging myself to grow vigorously.

Honestly, I’m slightly afraid that I will fail. That I will find out that I’m not good enough to accomplish the things I want to do. But I can’t remain in fear. I know that my default is to stay where it’s comfortable (any fellow nines out there?). But I also know that while comfort is good when healing, it’s not the best for growing. And I want to grow.

So, while I have many plans in the coming months, here are a few things I’m going to try in January to help me get into the mindset of thriving.

1. Start going to a gym regularly. This is a pretty typical new year resolution, isn’t it? However, I have already tried out this particular gym’s yoga class and absolutely loved it. I’m hoping to go at least twice a week this month, including a few more of these yoga classes.
2. Start writing my book. This is probably the biggest and scariest goal for me this year. But I feel like last year was a chapter in my life closing and a new one beginning. So before I get too far into this new chapter of my life, I thought writing down my experiences of the last five years or so into a book would help me reflect on all of it.
3. Try to bake two things this month. Michael and I love to watch the Great British Baking Show on Netflix. And I want to try my hand at baking a couple of things this month. I got a new kitchen scale, so I’m excited to try it out.

There are a few more things that will be a bit different this year, particularly on the blog, but I will talk about that later this week. I am a ball of anxiety and excitement at what this new year will bring. I might have to incorporate some more stillness and meditation to counteract all the excitement. I hope you have had a great start to the new year!